Yemen Army, Popular Committees Seize al-Hazm City near Saudi Border

The Yemeni army and the Popular Committees seized on Wednesday the capital of a large desert province on the border with Saudi Arabia on Sunday, news websites reported.

The national and resistance took control of al-Hazm, capital of the province of al-Jawf, amid Saudi-US persistent aggression on Yemeni infrastructure and heavy fighting with militant takfiri groups.

The city lies some 150 kilometers south of the border with Saudi Arabia, which has been leading a campaign of air strikes against the Yemeni civilians.

The army and the Popular Committees spread out in the city and around government buildings, Reuters said citing a tribal source in al-Hazm.

A Saudi-led military alliance has been carrying out air raids in Yemen for almost three months to try to restore exiled and fugitive President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and repel the Ansarullah movement which rejects the foreign intervention in domestic affairs of Yemen.

United Nations-backed talks in Geneva this week will be attended by delegations representing Hadi, while representatives of the Huthis and Saleh’s General People’s Congress refused to board a UN plane from Sanaa to Geneva on Saturday because it was scheduled to stop in Jizan in Saudi Arabia.

A UN spokesman said Sunday the talks were expected to begin on Monday.